Fishing device

ABSTRACT

A chum holding bobber which can be attached to a fishing line above a baited hook to distribute chum in the surrounding water for the attraction of fish. The bobber has a round tubular stem with an annular hollow for buoyancy; a chum holding cup, made of lightweight plastic, coaxially affixed to the stem to extend concentrically outwardly and upwardly so that its open side faces up; and a lightweight plastic cup with a larger mouth than the chum holding cup, slidably mounted on the stem above the chum holding cup with its open side down and having a downturned rim with scalloped indentations. The bobber is readied for use by loading the lower, chum holding cup with particulate chum, then sliding the upper cup into contact with the loaded lower cup. The rim or mouth of the chum holding cup nests within the larger mouth of the upper cup, but leaves portions of the scalloped indentations unobstructed to provide openings through which chum particles can escape into the water. A slight tug on the fishing line loosens more of the chum for distribution in the water when this is desired.

United States Patent [1 1 Lueck FISHING DEVICE [76] Inventor: LawrenceR. Lueck, P.O. Box 1061,

Victorville, Calif. 92392 [22] Filed: Oct. 17, 1972 [21] Appl. No.:298,335

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1929 Hughett 43/131 4/1952Bechik t. 43/4493 7/1955 Strausser, Sr. 43/4499 8/1967 Bowman 43/4491Primary Examiner-Warner H. Camp Atl0rneyJ0hn H. Crowe [57] ABSTRACT Achum holding bobber which can be attached to a [4 1 Dec. 25, 1973fishing line above a baited hook to distribute chum in the surroundingwater for the attraction of fish. The bobber has a round tubular stemwith an annular hollow for buoyancy; a chum holding cup, made oflightweight plastic, coaxially affixed to the stem to extendconcentrically outwardly and upwardly so that its open side faces up;and a lightweight plastic cup with a larger mouth than the chum holdingcup, slidably mounted on the stem above the chum holding cup with itsopen side down and having a downturned rim with scalloped indentations.The bobber is readied for use by loading the lower, chum holding cupwith particulate chum, then sliding the upper cup into contact with theloaded lower cup. The rim or mouth of the chum holding cup nests withinthe larger mouth of the upper cup, but leaves portions of the scallopedindentations unobstructed to provide openings through which chumparticles can escape into the water. A slight tug on the fishing lineloosens more of the chum for distribution in the water when this isdesired.

10 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures FISHING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates generally to fishing tackle, and moreparticularly to a unique device suitable for use as a float or bobberwhich serves, at the same time, to release chum in the vicinity of abaitedhook for the attraction of fish.

The dispensing of chum in waters being fished to lure fish and therebyincrease the likelihood of catching them has long been practiced byfishermen. The simplest way of dispensing chum is to merely toss it intothe water by hand, and this is sometimes effective in waters unaffectedby strong currents or tides, but where such currents or tides arepresent, the chum is usually carried away too quickly to serve as such alure. Attempts have been made to overcome this disadvantage of simplechum broadcasting techniques through the use of devices with chumcontainers from which the chum can be dispensed by a plunger or narrowbrush movable in and out of the chum container through an opening in thebottom of the latter large enough to admit the plunger or brush withjust enough clearance to permit escape of some of the chum each time asegment of said plunger or brush is moved from inside the chum containerinto the surrounding water. Obviously this kind of dispenser canaccommodate only very finely divided chum, and it is only operable todistribute the chum when the plunger or brush is jerked in the properfashion to permit a few particles of the chum to squeeze through theaforesaid opening in its bottom. Another fishing device of which I amaware functions to release a baited hook to a predetermined depththrough disintegration of a pellet of chum held together by a watersoluble binder. The release of the chum by this prior art device ispurely automatic, the only control the fisherman has being his selectionof the time for casting the device into the water. Furthermore, the chumparticles are fairly finely divided, and obviously immobile (as opposedto live bait), thus ruling out the use of certain types of chum or baitwhich might be more attractive to particular fish in certain areas.

For universal applicability in the fishing community, a chum-dispeningdevice should ideally be capable of dispensing particulate chum of avariety of particle sizes and also provide for the fairly constantdistribution of chum at'a low release rate and the quick release oflarger quantities of chum at the fishermans will, when the occasiondemands. No such means has been provided, or even suggested, insofar asI am aware.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION l have now, in the chum-holding bobber of thisinvention, provided means suitable for use as a float or bobber and, atthe same time, being capable of holding, and gradually releasing, aquantity of particulate chum of any of a variety of sizes while yieldingto manipulation by the fisherman to release larger amounts of the churnas desired. My float or bobber device isof extremely simpleconstruction, and capable of use by anyone without difficulty, onlyminimal skill being required for such use. The parts of the bobberdevice can be easily made from relatively inexpensive materials bywellknown techniques.

The unique chum-releasing float or bobber of this invention has, in itspreferred form, a buoyant tubular stem having a hook-like configurationnear its upper end for a purpose explained below. This stem has ahemispherical, or cup-shaped, wall extending outwardly and upwardlytherearound to define a laterally enclosed space about a lower portionof the stem for holding chum. Slidably mounted on the stem, above thecup-shaped wall around part of its lower portion, is a secondhemispherical, or cup-shaped wall, coaxial with said stem, which ismovable into and out of contact with the chum holding cup. The upper,slidable or movable cup has a larger mouth than the chum holding cup, sothat the mouth or rim of the latter nests within the mouth of the former(movable) cup when that (movable) cup is brought into contact therewith.Preferably, the slidable cup has a concentric sleeve extending upwardlyaway from the center of its bottom, this sleeve being sized to slideloosely upon the bobber stem. At the upper end of the sleeve is a thin,resilient membrane cut into sectorial segments which bear curvilinearlyagainst the bobber stem to hold the sliding cup assembly in any positionto which it is moved therealong. This permits slidable adjustment of theposition of the upper (movable) cup on the float stem.

The lower portion of the wall, or skirt, of the slidable cup has aplurality of spaced, relatively deep indenta tions. When the slideablecup is brought into contact with the chum holding cup, the innerportions of these indentations serve as openings above the rim of thechum holding cup through which chum can escape into the water. The sizesof these openings can be varied by merely backing the upper, slidablecup away from contact with the chum holding cup, to thereby exposelarger areas of the identations and increase the sizes of the openingsthrough which the chum can escape. Also, when the upper, slidable cup isbacked away from the chum holding cup, there is a narrow annular spacebetween the cups, around the rim of the lower one, through whichadditional chum can escape, depending upon its particle size.

All parts of my unique float or bobber are preferably made of alightweight material, or materials, to contribute to the buoyancy of thedevice. To prepare the bobber for use, a quantity of particulate chum,such as, for example, corn, oatmeal, salmon eggs (where permitted bylaw), worms, live bait, or the like is loaded into the chum holding cup,and the slidable cup is then moved into contact with the chum holdingcup, or close enough thereto to provide the proper size indentationopenings for use with the particular churn employed. It will be apparentthat chum of large particulate size will require larger openings thanmore finely divided chum. The bobber is attached to a fishing line byrunning the line through the hollow center of its tubular stem until thelower end of the line is at the desired hook distance below the watersurface. The line is then simply looped under the hook configuration atthe top of the stem in such a way that the downbearing weight of thebaited line helps to keep the loop tight and hold the bobber at theright position on the line until the hook depth requires readjustment.At such time, the float is moved along the line by simply loosening theloop around its upper hook configuration, sliding the bobber to thedesired new position, then reforming the loop around the hookconfiguration.

The chum holding enclosure formed by the slidable and chum holding cupsin the above-described way is preferably situated about the lower halfof the bobber stem. Thus, when the line is cast into the water with thebobber attached, the bobber will lie on its side and gradually releasebits of the particulate churn through the openings around its chumholding enclosure. When, for any reason, the fisherman desires torelease a little more chum, perhaps to attract fish which he has spottednearby, a gentle tug on the line is sufficient to loosen the chum withinthe holder and cause a larger quantity to escape through these openings.

It will thus be apparent that my unique churn holding bobber isversatilely adapted to gradually release small or trace quantities ofchum in the vicinity of a baited hook, to provide a more or lesspermanent lure for passing fish, while at the same time being capable ofreleasing larger quantities of chum, as the occasion demands, through asimple hand manipulation of the tackle on the part of the fisherman.Even a child can easily master the necessary technique fo using thebobber to best advantage under all fishing conditions It is thus aprincipal object of this invention to provide fishing tackle meanssuitable for concurrent use as a float or bobber and for the release ofchum in the vicinity of a baited hook to attract fish to the bait.

It is another object of the invention to provide such means capable ofcontinuously releasing quantities of chum at a low rate in the vicinityof a baited hook in the water and, at the same time, being responsive toeasy hand control for the release of larger quantities of the chum asthe occasion demands.

It is still another object of the invention to provide such meansadjustable for use with particulate chum of different particle sizes andshapes.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such means of simpleand inexpensive construction, readily capable of use by children, andothers, as well as by skilled or experienced fishermen.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art in the light of subsequentdisclosures herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation ofa preferred form of fishing device inaccordance with this invention attached to a fishing line for use.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the FIG. 1 device removedfrom the fishing line, and showing separable parts of the device inspaced apart relationship to illustrate its manner of use andfunctioning.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, similar to that of FIG. 2, of an alternativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of the FIG. 1 device, showingsaid separable parts in different rela tive positions by comparison withtheir FIG. 1 positions.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view, similar to the FIG. 4 view,but showing the separable portions of the device in still anotherpositional relationship.

FIG. 6 is a top view of the FIG. 1 device separated from the fishingline shown in the latter Figure.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view, drawn to an enlarged scale, ofa second alternative form of fishing device in accordance with myinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Considering now the drawing ingreater detail, there is shown generally at 10, in FIGS. 1 and 2, apreferred embodiment of a float or bobber device in accordance with thisinvention. Bobber 10 has a buoyant, tubular stem 12 with a hollowcenter, as shown at 14, characterized by the presence of a hookconfiguration 16 near its upper end. Stem 12 preferably has a length ofabout nine inches, although this is not critical and the stem could beof any length suitable for the purpose, such as, for example, 6 inches.Stem 12 is constructed from a pair of relatively thin-walled,concentrically arranged tubes 11 and 13 defining an annular space 15enclosed at its ends by annular enclosures '17 and 19. The stem ispreferably formed from a lightweight plastic of any type known to thoseskilled in the art to be suitable for the purpose. The annular space 15of stem 12 provides the necessary buoyancy for bobber 10 and is of thesame cross-sectional size and shape throughout, except in the vicinityof hook configuration 16 where this is, of course, impossible.

Integral with stem 10, so as to extend outwardly and upwardly therefrom,around a portion of its lower half, is a hemispherical, cup-shaped wall18 which defines a laterally enclosed space for chum, as will be seen.Slidably mounted on the stem, above the cup shaped configuration 18,hereinafter referred to as chum cup 18, is a slidable member 20.Slidable member 20 consists of an integral, downwardly facing cup 21,with a concentric buttom opening, and a cylindrical sleeve 22, adaptedto fit loosely on stem 12, extending upwardly from around the concentricopening in the bottom of cup 21. Sleeve 22 has, extending inwardy fromthe mouth of its upper rim, a plurality of friction tabs 24, formed froma thin, resilient material, which bear curvilinearly against stem 12 toprovide frictional resistance to slipping movement of member 20therealong. The frictional resistance is adequate to hold member 20 inany position to which it is moved along stem 12, yet of insufficientstrength to prevent easy sliding of that member along the stem byanyone, even a child. Similarly to stem 12, the remaining parts ofbobber 10 are preferably made of lightweight plastic. Many such plasticsare known to those skilled in the art, hence need not be discussed indetail here. Friction tabs 24 could be made from the same material asthe remaining parts of sliding member 20, or of a different materialselected for its friction-holding and/or other characteristics.

As will be apparent, sliding member 20 is movable along stem 12 betweenpositions of contact with the chum holding cup 18, as shown in FIG. 1.and positions of varying distance from the chum holding cup, FIG. 2showingits farthest distance away from the latter.

The hook configuration 16 near the upper end of stem 12 of bobber 10permits easy fastening of the bobber to a fishing line at any desireddistance above a baited hook. This is accomplished by running the line,such a line being shown at 34 in FIG. 1, through the hollow interior 14of stem 12 to the desired bait depth, and then looping the line aroundthe hook configuration in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1. The weightof the baited line below the bobber will hold the loop tight at theupper end of stem 12, and when it is desired to vary the position of thebobber on the line, this is easily accomplished by loosening said loopby hand, and sliding the bobber along the line to the new position, thenagain looping the line around hook configuration 16.

Downwardly facing cup 21 of the slidable member 20 has a plurality ofscalloped indentations 26 around its lower wall, or skirt. Cup 21 is oflarger diameter than chum holding cup 18 so that the latter nests withinthe mouth of the former, when member 20 is pushed into contact with cup18, in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1. The indentations 26 are ofsufficient depth so that full contact between cup 21 and the chumholding cup 18 does not bring the rim of cup 18 past their bottom ends.Thus, small openings, as shown at 28 in FIG. 1, are provided around theside of the enclosure formed by the mating cups 21 and 18, when thesecups are in contact. The backing away of slidable member 20 from cup 18causes these openings to enlarge, as illustrated in FIG. 4, which showslarger openings at 30, and in FIG. 5, which shows still larger openingsat 32. Openings 32 correspond to the largest size openings possible,since further backing away of slidable member 20 causes completeseparation of the two cups, and FIG. 4 shows openings intermediate insize between those of FIG. 5 and the smallest openings of FIG. 1.

To prepare bobber for use, the slidable member is backed away from cup18 far enough to permit a quantity of chum to be placed in the latter.Slidable member 20 is then pushed into contact with cup 18, or to aposition which provides the desired opening sizes (such as its positionin FIG. 4 or FIG. 5) for the particular chum employed. Generally, thesmaller the particle, size of the chum, the smaller will be the desiredopenings. As previously indicated, the chum can be of any particulatevariety where the particles are shaped or sized to fit into cup 18, andcan thereafter escape through the openings around the enclosure formedby cups l8 and 21. The line to which the bobber is attached is then castinto the water, where the bobber lies on its side on the water surface.Particles of chum work their way out through the openings in the nestedcups, and drift downwardly in the vicinity of the baited hook. When thefisherman has occasion to feel that the release of more chum would bedesirable, he merely tugs or pulls on the line, to jostle the chum inthe nested cups, and cause more chum to pass outwardly through saidopenings.

FIG. 3 shows an alternative form of the bobber, similar to that of FIG.1 except that the chum holding cup is formed separately from the bobberstem, with an upthrust central wall having a frustoconical socket whichfits against a mating frustoconical seat on the stem. The chum holdingcup is shown at 44 in FIG. 3, and its upthrust central well at 42. Thefrustoconical seat around the stemis shown at 40. Cup 44 can be presseddownwardly into friction fitting contact with the seat 40 on the stem,or it can be permanently affixed to the seat by means of a suitableadhesive. The advantage of this form of bobber over that shown in FIG. 1is a greater ease and lower cost of manufacture, as well as greatersimplicity of construction.

Still another form of my unique bobber is shown in FIG. 7, this onediffering from the FIG. 3 bobber in having a stem formed of solid wood,rather than hollow plastic, as in the latter. This stem is shown at 46,and can be made of any suitable wood, the only requirement being thatthe wood be of light enough density of impart buoyancy to the bobber.

While the novel chum holding and distributing bobber of this inventionhas been illustrated and described in what I consider to be thepreferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art that various departures may be made therefrom within the scopeof the invention. Some of these departures have already been mentioned,and others will occur to those skilled in the art in the light ofpresent teachings. In summary, the scope of the present inventionextends to all variant forms thereof encompassed by the language of thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. Chum holding bobber means fastenable to a fishing line above a baitedhook comprising, in combination:

buoyant stem means;

first cup-shaped means adapted for positioning, open side up, on saidstem means to provide a laterally enclosed space around the stem meansfor suitably receiving a quantity of particulate chum;

second cup-shaped means adapted to be positioned,

open side down, above the first cup-shaped means on said stem means; andfriction holding means cooperatively associated with said secondcup-shaped means adapted to permit slidable movement of the latter alongsaid stem means and to hold the second cup-shaped means in any positionto which it is moved along the stem means, so that the second cup-shapedmeans can be easily positioned in or out of contact with the firstcup-shaped means along said stem means;

the downturned mouth of said second cup-shaped means being larger thanthe upturned rim of the first cup-shaped means and the geometricrelationship thereof being such that the rim of the first cupshapedmeans nests within the mouth of the second cup-shaped means when thelatter is brought into sliding contact with the former along said stemmeans;

the second cup-shaped means having scalloped indentations around itsmouth of such size that portions remain as openings in the wall of saidsecond cup-shaped means when it is brought into sliding contact withsaid first cup-shaped means along said stem means, which openings can beenlarged by backing of the second cup-shaped means away from its firstcup-shaped means, whereby particulate chum loaded into said firstcup-shaped means can escape through said openings into the water whenthe bobber is in use on a fishing line to attract fish to the vicinityof the baited hook.

2. Chum holding bobber means in accordance with claim 1, in which saidbuoyant stern means has a central longitudinal hollow through which afishing line can be threaded and a hook-like configuration near itsupper end around which the line can be looped to fix the bobber means inposition thereon to assure retention of the bobber means in place at apredetermined level above a baited hook on said line when said bobbermeans is so affixed to said line at said predetermined level.

3. Chum holding bobber means in accordance with claim 2, in which saidstem means is formed from a pair of plastic cylinders of roundcross-section and differing diameters concentrically arranged to definean annular space therebetween, the upper and lower ends of said annularspace being sealed against water leakage to impart buoyancy to the stemmeans.

4. Chum holding bobber means in accordance with claim 3, in which eachof the first and second cupshaped means is of generally hemisphericalshape.

5. Chum holding bobber means in accordance with claim 4, in which saidstem means and said first cupshaped means have cooperating male andfemale frustoconical surfaces adapted to permit mating of the stemshaped means is of generally hemispherical shape.

9. Chum holding bobber means in accordance with claim 8, in which saidstem means and said first cupshaped means having cooperating male andfemale frustoconical surfaces adapted to permit mating of the stem meansand first cup-shaped means at said frustoconical surfaces.

10. Chum holding bobber means in accordance with claim 9, in which saidstem means and said first cupshaped means are fastened tightly togetherby adhesive means between said frustoconical surfaces.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent 3, 780,467Dated December 25, 1973 Inventor(s) LAWRENCE R. LUECK It is certifiedthat error appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 3, line 17, "0" should read -for---. Column 7, line 12, "4"should read --7--. Column 8, line 4, "having" should read have--.

Signed arid sealed this 9th day of April 1971;.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. c. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents FORM Podoso (10-69) uscoMM-oc 60376-P69 i US. GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICE I969 0*366-334,

1. Chum holding bobber means fastenable to a fishing line above a baitedhook comprising, in combination: buoyant stem means; first cup-shapedmeans adapted for positioning, open side up, on said stem means toprovide a laterally enclosed space around the stem means for suitablyreceiving a quantity of particulate chum; second cup-shaped meansadapted to be positioned, open side down, above the first cup-shapedmeans on said stem means; and friction holding means cooperativelyassociated with said second cup-shaped means adapted to permit slidablemovement of the latter along said stem means and to hold the secondcup-shaped means in any position to which it is moved along the stemmeans, so that the second cup-shaped means can be easily positioned inor out of contact with the first cup-Shaped means along said stem means;the downturned mouth of said second cup-shaped means being larger thanthe upturned rim of the first cup-shaped means and the geometricrelationship thereof being such that the rim of the first cup-shapedmeans nests within the mouth of the second cup-shaped means when thelatter is brought into sliding contact with the former along said stemmeans; the second cup-shaped means having scalloped indentations aroundits mouth of such size that portions remain as openings in the wall ofsaid second cup-shaped means when it is brought into sliding contactwith said first cup-shaped means along said stem means, which openingscan be enlarged by backing of the second cup-shaped means away from itsfirst cup-shaped means, whereby particulate chum loaded into said firstcup-shaped means can escape through said openings into the water whenthe bobber is in use on a fishing line to attract fish to the vicinityof the baited hook.
 2. Chum holding bobber means in accordance withclaim 1, in which said buoyant stem means has a central longitudinalhollow through which a fishing line can be threaded and a hook-likeconfiguration near its upper end around which the line can be looped tofix the bobber means in position thereon to assure retention of thebobber means in place at a predetermined level above a baited hook onsaid line when said bobber means is so affixed to said line at saidpredetermined level.
 3. Chum holding bobber means in accordance withclaim 2, in which said stem means is formed from a pair of plasticcylinders of round cross-section and differing diameters concentricallyarranged to define an annular space therebetween, the upper and lowerends of said annular space being sealed against water leakage to impartbuoyancy to the stem means.
 4. Chum holding bobber means in accordancewith claim 3, in which each of the first and second cup-shaped means isof generally hemispherical shape.
 5. Chum holding bobber means inaccordance with claim 4, in which said stem means and said firstcup-shaped means have cooperating male and female frustoconical surfacesadapted to permit mating of the stem means and first cup-shaped means atsaid frustoconical surfaces.
 6. Chum holding bobber means in accordancewith claim 5, in which said stem means and said first cup-shaped meansare fastened tightly together by adhesive means between saidfrustoconical surfaces.
 7. Chum holding bobber means in accordance withclaim 2, in which said stem means is of round cross-section, and formedfrom soft wood of a buoyant character.
 8. Chum holding bobber means inaccordance with claim 4, in which each of the first and secondcup-shaped means is of generally hemispherical shape.
 9. Chum holdingbobber means in accordance with claim 8, in which said stem means andsaid first cup-shaped means having cooperating male and femalefrustoconical surfaces adapted to permit mating of the stem means andfirst cup-shaped means at said frustoconical surfaces.
 10. Chum holdingbobber means in accordance with claim 9, in which said stem means andsaid first cup-shaped means are fastened tightly together by adhesivemeans between said frustoconical surfaces.